Wringer drive



- Feb. 18, 1941. N. L.I ETTEN 2,232,371

WRINGER DRIVE Filed Feb. 4, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 18, 19,41. 4 N.L. ETTE N WRINGER DRIVE FiledFeb. 4. 19:58

2 Sheet s-Sheet 2 p I wnmoun ,ninvn sickens L.ii tten,waterloo,l wai f'1 1 Aoplication February 4, 1938. serial Miami ZClaims. wiles-52 53)???This invention relates to wringer mechanisms;

and particularly to a means for automatically disengaging thedriving.connection to a pair of,

' wringer rolls in response to the operation'oi, the g usual emergencypressure release.

Most domestic wringers. on the market today.

include a pair of power driven rolls urged into engagement with eachother by means "of a pressure spring and are provided with an emergencyrelease whereby this pressure may be instantly released. It isrecognized in the art that in order to provide the maximum degree ofsafety to the operator it is not only necessary that the springpresent-day wringers. may be divided into two general classes. .Thefirstof these classes may be characterized by the fact that one ofv therolls 3@ is resiliently dispiaceable from itsnormal-axis in order toaccommodate articles passing between the rolls, while the other roll(which is usually the power driven roll) is displaceable by means of theemergency release mechanism in 5 order to enecta .releaseof the-springpressure. The present invention is not concerned with this class ofwringers. since here the desired effect may be accomplished.byfisimplydriving the rollby a pair of gears thatwillautomatioally dislm engagewhen the roll isinovedlaterally. i

The second class aof wringers is inherently.

much greatersimplicity since in thisvclass the, driven roll issubstantially stationary upon: its axis, and both the normal: resilient:displacement- 45 and the emergency release are accomplished mymoving-the idler: roll; These *wrizigers have? a great-advantage asitsimplicity;ruggednessfland cost of manufacture, i tlout shave heretoforehad thecdisadvantagecthat no full-y satisfactory; roll;

- 5 stop has 'been available andit has; thereforefheeh nces'saryi'tbresort to 'i'auxiliaryidevicesfsuchas linkageson'coiitrol rodszei'ctendin'g ito and'fadapted to"disengageithe'drivihg rme'ansifivithin'the po' vention to. provide. a new. and improved. roll stop, mechanismfor domestic wringers;

Another object: iszto provide axwringer having a laterally smovable':idlervroll and a i normally stationary'driven rollywith;meanswherebythe; 5 normally stationary; roll: may ,move a limited amount in thedirectionqof the idlenroll: at the time ,oftpressure release, andmeansresponsive to this limited movement fordisengaging the drivingconnection to the rolls. l0

Ano ther.object of the .inventionis toprovide a wringer oithetypein-which both the normal axial, displacement and the emergency.release movement are accomplished by the lateral movemer t of one roll;with ,a roll stop mechanism wherein thedrivin'g ,(son'rieotiontb therolls is disengaged by agrelatively, smell lateral IllOVG'. meat of thenormally stationary roll.

Other objec'tswillappear hereinafter.

Referring now more particularly to the go drawings? y Y Fig. 1 isasideeleva'tio'n of a wringer con structed in accordance with theprinciples of this invention; I f x j h Fig. 2 is airagmentallongitudinal sectional view through one of the vertical bearing slidesshowing the: method of mounting and driving thewringer rolls; f r

3 is asctional View similar to Fig 2', but havihg'theseveral' parts in'releasecl' position. f go The'iranieof the wringeris preferablyconstructedwith a lorigitudi'nall3? 'extending bottom channel ill 'at'e'ach end of which a vertically extendinglbearin'g slide 52 and i3 issecured, as, for eizampla' by rneans 'of rivetsi'l i or 'by spotwelding. -'Ihe'r:b'earing slide i3" is provided with a mounting bracket.t'iii :by; means .of-. which the entire 'wringer. structure? :issecured;v to "a power. head l6; containing:- .the usual.- reversing;gears operatedi-byimeans or; the .control'handle all This My mountin-,bracketme bes cll ed toy he; bearin sl der/ 2in any-. 5 des rab e .wmart-be fo med as an integral parttzrthereo utl;is::preferablyvsecurednt ,rthe -:power:;head l6 by meansmf the machine 'sorewsi and W,1 aifrhegr-heai'ing slide.sa:.-l.2:=:v 3--ar substantially channelshaped lnmcnoss ,ection andt ltez pr videdwith aarpair flfi-l'lowl?ollwbearings it, inilwhich tli' haiteflicof at lone ringerirol-lafisisfi ure hale at Theseilowerzawiungen: rbllebearrngsez l are looselyamounted. withimjgh bearingtslidesetziand' ll T Iii-emit erslimitedsinetheirmownwardrmovement withinvtheselzslidesnbylstopvmenibersdflre v H-thej pne'sfentiiinstanca aregeformedson efid of h onlg ,udinali'jo-extendingdiotto' nel M. An internal gear25 is keyed to the roll shaft 22 by means of the key 25 and is adaptedto mesh with the pinion gear 21 affixed to a drive shaft 23 extendingfrom the power head |3.

A pair of upper wringer roll bearings 3| are loosely mounted within thebearing slides l2 and i3 and carry the roll shaft 32 of an upper wringerroll 33. A top housing 35 extends between the bearing slide 12 and thebearing slide l3, being secured to the bearing slide l2 by means of aprojection 36 which is formed on the bearing slide l2 and which isadapted to engage a perforation 31 formed on the top housing 35. Thistop housing 35 is secured to the bearing slide l3 by means of a manuallyreleasable latch mechanism. This latch mechanism comprises a hookportion 38 which is pivotally mounted upon the bearing slide l3 by meansof a rivet 39 and which includes an upper curved portion 4| so shaped asto engage the upper corner 42 of the top housing 35. A latch stud 45 iscarried by this hook portion 38 and is normally engaged by a latch 41formed as an extension to a manually operable release handle 48 which,is pivotally mounted upon the pin 43 se cured to the top housing 35 andwhich is normally urged in a counter-clockwise direction (as viewed inthe drawings) by means of a leaf spring 5|.

- A tension adjusting screw 52 is threaded into a boss 53 secured to theupper surface of the top housing 35 and this screw extends downwardlywithin the housing 35 in order to contact a pressure spring 54 whichrests upon and extends between the pair of upper roll bearings 3|. Theadjusting screw 52 is provided with a hand wheel 55 such that it may beturned down in order to force the pressure spring 54 downwardly againstthe upper roll bearings 3| in such a manner as to force the upper roll33 into resilient engagement with the lower roll 23.

An initial pressure having been established between the roll 23' and 33,the machine is ready for operation, since at this time the latchmechanism associated with the top housing 35 will actto maintain the tophousing 35 in the position illustrated in Fig. 3. It will be appreciatedthat the leaf spring 5| prevents the latch 41 from disengaging from thelatch stud 45 and that since the curved portion 4| of the hook 38 cannotmove outwardly to disengage the corner 42 of the top housing 35, thistop housing 35 will be secured against any upward movement. In the eventthat it is necessary to operate the emergency release mechanism, theoperator may manually strike the release handle 43, thus releasing thelatch 41, allowing the hook 33 to disengage the top housing 35 andtherefore allowing this top housing 35 to be thrown upwardly by theforce exerted by the pressure spring 54. As hereinbefore pointed out, itis desirable at this time to not only release the pressure relationshipexisting between the rolls, but also to disengage the driving connectionto these rolls and to thus stop their rotation.

To this end a coil spring 6| may be mounted under the lower roll bearing2| housed within the bearing slide l3 in such amanner as to tend to movethis hearing 2| upwardly. The lower end of this spring 6| may be mountedin any desirable manner, it having been found convenient to provide aU-shaped spring mounting bracket 62, which extends upwardly along theinner walls of the bearing slide |3 to a point slightly above the rollshaft 22 where it is secured by means of a cross rivet 53.

When the pressure between the rolls has been released, the tension ofthis spring BI is sufllcient to overcome the weight of the bearings,rolls and top structure and will thus move these parts upwardly into theposition illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings. This movement issufficient to cause the internal gear 25 to disengage from the pinion 21carried by the drive shaft 23 and will, therefore, break the drivingconnection between the power head l5 and the rolls 23 and 33, In orderto prevent the roll 23 from rising to the extent that the lower half ofthe internal gear 25 will engage the pinion 21, the cross rivet 53 islocated in proper position to act as a stop for the upper limit ofmovement of the lower roll shaft 22.

The wringer rolls may be reset by unscrewing the adjusting screw 52 andreengaging the emergency release mechanism after which the adjustingscrew 52 is again turned down in order to move the pressure spring 54,downwardly and apply the proper initial pressure between the rolls 33and 23. When this is done, it will be obvious that the relatively greatpressure exerted by the spring 54 will readily overcome the light upwardpressure exerted by the coil spring 5| and the lower roll bearing 2|will, therefore, be again moved downwardly into positive engagement withthe stop 24. At this time the internal gear 25 and pinion 21 willreengage and the wringer will be ready for operation.

From this it will be seen that this construction provides a simple andrugged roll stop mechanism which is both dependable in operation andpreferred embodiment of this invention, it is,

subject to numerous modifications without departing from the inventionspirit and I, there fore, do not wish to be limited except as by thescope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a wringer including a frame, a pressure spring and a pair ofpressure rolls rotatably mounted in the frame and each consisting of aroll shaft and a resilient roll surface, the combination of a roll driveassembly including a driving unit consisting of a power drive shaft, afixed bearing for said drive shaft, and a spur pinion solidly affixed tothe end of said drive shaft; and a driven unit consisting of an internalgear solidly aflixed to the roll shaft of one of the aforesaid rolls,said internal gear including a rim and teeth projecting inwardly fromthe rim and having an internal diameter greater than the outsidediameter of the driving spur gear; a bearing for the wringer roll shaftintermediate said internal gear and the resilient surface portion of theroll, a bearing support for said bearing, and means to shift the bearingin a lateral direction with respect to the axis of the roll shaft.

2. In a wringer including a frame, a pressure spring, and a pair ofpressure rolls rotatably mounted in the frame and each consisting of aroll shaft and a resilient roll surface, the combination of a roll driveassembly including a driving unit consisting of a power drive shaft, afixed bearing for said drive shaft, and a spur pinion solidly aflixed tothe end of said drive gear and internal gear in meshing position. aspring to urge the roll shaft bearing, roll shaft. and internal geartoward a concentric position with respect to the driving spur gear andthe drive shaft, and a stop to limit the movement. 5

ct said, bearing. shaft, and gear.

NICHOLAS L. ETTEN.

